Just Three Little Words
by Ultrawoman
Summary: Another fic in the ‘Just Us’ Series AU 6x6 All The Way. After her brief conversation with Spike in the Magic Box basement, Buffy decides following him is more appealing than staying where she is.


A/N : Another fic for the 'Just Us' Series - AU 6x6 All The Way. After her brief conversation with Spike in the Magic Box basement, Buffy decides following him is more appealing than staying where she is.  
_(Disclaimer - Joss owns all the good stuff, as always!)_

Just Three Little Words

"Y'know Slayer, not that I mind you following me around but would it kill you to try for a little stealth" Spike smirked as he turned at the door of his crypt and stared at the spot in the dark when he knew she was trying to hide, "Givin' your kind a bad name, luv"

"I was just testing you" Buffy said haughtily as she stepped out of the gloom and into the pale moonlight, "Obviously you're...sensing...skill things and stuff are just fine" she said, finding the words for her excuse didn't flow so well.

"Get a gold star now do I, pet?" he asked, head tilted and still smirking, "For bein' a good boy and passing my test and all"

"Like you were ever a good boy" she scoffed, turning to walk away, wondering why she'd followed him in the first place. She knew why she'd wanted to get out of the Magic Box, it was so hectic it was driving her crazy in there, but why she'd chosen to follow Spike instead of just going home or patrolling another graveyard, that was the real mystery.

It was weird how the one person Buffy was supposed to loath was turning out to be the only person she could really talk to since she got back. Her friends tried to understand, tried to help out, but none of them knew what they'd done to her and she didn't have the strength to tell them and face their reactions.

Things with Spike were simple, in some ways. He understood her like no-one else ever had. It was comfortable when it was just them, even when they said nothing, and when they did talk there was very little she held back. The only thing that bothered her slightly was how attached she was becoming to a supposed evil vampire, but feelings had hardly been mentioned since she got back from...where she'd been. Not since before the fight with Glory had Spike told her he loved her.

"You coming in, pet, or you gonna play door-stop all night?" Spike called from inside and Buffy realised she'd zoned out standing there in the doorway.

"I should probably patrol and stuff" she said vaguely, reminding herself that the seemingly normal domestic scene in front of her was not that at all. There might be a TV and a fridge and a really inviting comfy armchair with a nice and gorgeous guy in it that really understood her but... Buffy completely forgot what came after the but as she stared at him.

"It is a lot of years since I watched the Great Pumpkin" she said, walking a few steps further into the crypt and Spike smirked slightly as he shifted out of the chair.

"Take a seat and enjoy the show, luv" he offered but she shook her head, not wanting to take his seat from him and feeling strangely disappointed not to get to share the space.

Buffy slipped off her jacket and walked over to the sarcophagus, hopping up onto it. She had a pretty good view of the TV from there and at least she wasn't surrounded by the overly comforting smells of leather and tobacco that hung on all Spike's furnishings.

Spike watched her for a moment, sitting there on what passed for his bed some nights. She was lit by the feint glow of the TV and a few candles, swinging her legs back and forth like Dawn did when she came visiting. Whilst it added to the child-like appearance of the younger Summers sister, somehow it was just yet another endearing quality in Buffy that made Spike fall a little more in love with her.

"What?" she said when she noticed him staring at her, a smile playing on his lips.

"'S nothing, pet" he shook his head coming out of his daze, "Er, got a couple of minutes before it starts" he gestured towards the TV, "You hungry?"

"You have food here?" Buffy frowned a little, "Like non-blood type food?"

"Nibblet said she might pop round for a, and I quote, 'scare-a-palooza movie-fest" he rolled his eyes at the phrasing and Buffy bit her lip so as not to giggle, "Guess she changed her mind but I got a few bits in" he continued, rummaging around before turning a tossing a bag of toffee popcorn to the Slayer. She caught it easily and hastily ripped into the bag.

"Thanks" she said absently, shoving a handful of popcorn into her mouth, "Oh God" she muttered through her mouthful, "This is sooo good"

"S'only popcorn, luv" Spike smirked, coming to sit beside her.

"You really have no idea do you?" Buffy gave him a look, "I may have Slayer fitness and everything but I still have to watch what I eat. The amount of fat and sugar and badness in this bag...I don't even wanna know" she sighed, digging into it, "But I guess since it's my night off for Slayerness it should be my night off for dieting too" she surmised, leaning back against the wall and pushing more corn into her mouth.

"Here" Spike said, pulling a cushion from the chair and stuffing it between her back and the wall, "And y'know Slayer, you've got no need to diet. You're fine as you are, better than fine..."

"Easy for you to say" she snorted, "You're a vampire, never ageing, staying young and hot forever..." she paused slightly when she realised what she said before speedily adding, "Anyway, you don't understand"

"Buffy..." Spike started but Buffy immediately shushed him.

"It's starting" she gestured towards the TV and the bleached blond sighed as he leaned back against the wall beside her. He wasn't sure if it was a conscious thing or not but she almost immediately sat up and away from him. Deliberate or not it reminded Spike just how far away from her he really was. Sure she came here and they talked, went out drinking last week though that hadn't ended all too well. Anyway, they spent time but never seemed to get anywhere. He wanted to be there for her of course he did, whether she needed someone to laugh with or a shoulder to cry on, he'd be there, he promised her that the first night she'd visited after arriving back.

It was killing him being this close and never closer, though he never complained and knew he never would. Better to have her this close than not around at all, and he'd missed her so much when she was gone.

She laughed at something on the TV, bringing Spike from his thoughts and making him pay attention once again to the old cartoon, though his eyes kept glancing back to Buffy. She was sitting almost lotus style on the edge of the sarcophagus, a strange mixture of an elegant statute of a goddess and an excited child, as she balanced the bag of popcorn in her lap and watched intently as Snoopy flew his plane across the border.

The short movie soon ended and Buffy made a disappointed sound as it did so.

"Well, that's over. Now what?" she asked, shifting so she was facing Spike more than the TV. He gave her a quizzical look and she pouted, "Entertain me"

"And how would you have me do that, pet?" he asked, a few dirty thoughts running through his mind as he walked over to he TV and switched it off.

"I dunno" Buffy shrugged, still munching popcorn, "I just feel like I should be doing something" she complained, "My one night off in the whole year and I'm sitting around getting fat and watching Peanuts cartoons" she sighed.

"Will you quit it with the fat talk" Spike mock scolded as he came back to sit beside her, "Or is it deliberate, eh? Fishing for compliments are we Slayer?" he asked with a tilt of his head.

"Why would I?" she replied haughtily, "I get plenty anyway"

"Is that right" Spike smirked, almost laughing. He liked Buffy this way, truth was he liked her pretty much every way but this was fun. She seemed so relaxed and a lot less tightly wound thaN she used to be. He wondered what it was that changed her and through the intensity of his gaze she seemed to pick up on his thoughts and back away.

"I should go" she said putting the bag of popcorn down and moving to get off the stone coffin. It was getting all intense and uncomfortable again and she didn't know if she could deal.

"You don't have to" he told her, cool fingers curling round her wrist and stopping her leaving. She looked down at their hands together and then up at his face, her own expression unreadable. He was going to let go but he was too busy trying to figure out what she was thinking to even notice he still had his hand on hers.

"Don't you think it's weird" she said after a long pause, "how Snoopy is a dog but he's allowed to fly a plane like that. I mean that has to be illegal, right?" she asked innocently. Spike was thrown by her question and frowned as he tried to think of an answer, any words he might say to her. It truly was the last thing he'd been expecting her to say.

"You're a weird woman, Slayer" he said eventually, smirking slightly, "but I love you" he told her solemnly and somewhere deep inside her heart, Buffy felt a warm glow at the sound of those words.

"Thankyou" she said softly a smile spreading across her lips before she pulled her hand from his grip and walked over to the TV. She switched it back on and hit the top as she'd seen Spike do before, til the picture lost it's fuzziness and became an old horror movie.

"Wanna watch this?" she asked with a grin as she turned to look at Spike, "We can make fun of the fake scariness?" she said, trying to convince him.

"Suits me, pet" he smiled, settling back against the wall. Buffy sighed and shook her head, walking over and picking up her popcorn with one hand, holding the other hand outstretched to him. He eyed it cautiously before putting her hand in his and she pulled him up from where he sat, encouraging him into the comfy chair before joining him there. It was a heck of a squeeze but they both just about fit with a little manuoevring but only if Spike had his arm around the Slayer. She didn't seem to mind snuggling up to him and he was amazed at that.

"Oh puh-lease!" Buffy over pronounced, "That girl is so stupid!" she complained, gesturing emphatically at the TV, "Hello, you're about to be monster food!" she told the character moments before something pounced from the dark making her scream, "Tried to tell her" Buffy muttered, throwing a piece of popcorn at the screen.

"Slayer?" Spike asked her a moment later.

"What?" she replied, glancing up at him, his face a little too serious for her liking and no words coming out of his mouth, despite the fact it was opening and closing like a fish. She giggled like a kid as she stuffed a handful of popcorn in before he could protest.

"Bloody hell" he complained, choking on the toffee flavoured bits, "You're an annoying chit sometimes Slayer, and a bleedin' kid too" he complained as he brushed stray bits of popcorn from his clothes. She knew he was far less angry at her than he seemed.

"But you love me anyway" she said almost too quietly for him to hear as she went back to watching TV.

He realised then that was what she really needed tonight, and many other nights. Just to be reminded that despite everything, all the crap she'd been through, the good the bad and the ugly, somebody still loved her unconditionally. From now on he planned to remind her a lot more often of his great feelings for her, even when she professed to hate the words and what they stood for. He was getting through to her, little by little, and maybe one day, she'd be able to say those three little words back to him.

The End

A/N2 : You like? You don't like? Please review and let me know!


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